The VOICE study - A before and after study of a dementia communication skills training course

A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by persons living with dementia, many of whom have communication problems. Healthcare professionals lack confidence in dementia communication skills, but there are no evidence-based communication skills training approaches appropriate for professionals w...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2018-06, Vol.13 (6), p.e0198567-e0198567
Main Authors: O'Brien, Rebecca, Goldberg, Sarah E, Pilnick, Alison, Beeke, Suzanne, Schneider, Justine, Sartain, Kate, Thomson, Louise, Murray, Megan, Baxendale, Bryn, Harwood, Rowan H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior modification
Biology and Life Sciences
Care and treatment
Clinical Competence
Communication
Communication skills
Confidence
Confidence intervals
Delirium
Dementia
Dementia - pathology
Dementia disorders
Diaries
Education, Medical, Continuing
Female
Health care
Health education
Health Personnel - psychology
Health sciences
Health services
Hospitals
Humans
Knowledge
Learning theory
Male
Medical personnel
Medicine and Health Sciences
Mental health
Nursing care
Nursing homes
Older people
Patients
Personal Satisfaction
Practice
Program Evaluation
Risk factors
Simulation
Skill development
Social interaction
Social policy
Social Sciences
Sociology
Systematic review
Teaching
Training
Verbal communication
Video communication
Voice communication
Work skills
Workshops
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Summary:A quarter of acute hospital beds are occupied by persons living with dementia, many of whom have communication problems. Healthcare professionals lack confidence in dementia communication skills, but there are no evidence-based communication skills training approaches appropriate for professionals working in this context. We aimed to develop and pilot a dementia communication skills training course that was acceptable and useful to healthcare professionals, hospital patients and their relatives. The course was developed using conversation analytic findings from video recordings of healthcare professionals talking to patients living with dementia in the acute hospital, together with systematic review evidence of dementia communication skills training and taking account of expert and service-user opinion. The two-day course was based on experiential learning theory, and included simulation and video workshops, reflective diaries and didactic teaching. Actors were trained to portray patients living with dementia for the simulation exercises. Six courses were run between January and May 2017. 44/45 healthcare professionals attended both days of the course. Evaluation entailed: questionnaires on confidence in dementia communication; a dementia communication knowledge test; and participants' satisfaction. Video-recorded, simulated assessments were used to measure changes in communication behaviour. Healthcare professionals increased their knowledge of dementia communication (mean improvement 1.5/10; 95% confidence interval 1.0-2.0; p
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0198567